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This month's group build is designed to get away from the zerg, and focus more on small group roaming (aka, a "Havoc Group"). The group is designed to work well with small numbers, have fairly high survivability, and be able to take out targets with relative haste. The main targets for the build would be camps and small groups of opposing players. There is quite a bit of flexibility in how the group can go about achieving its goals.

The team consists of 3 Mesmers, 1 Elementalist, and 1 Thief (see builds below). Ideally there would be 2 burst mesmers and 1 tanky mesmer.

Two main ideas that I had for how this build would cap a camp would be to either: a) all team members focus down a singular target, and then move on to the next, until the camp is captured, or b) given the amount of damage each team member is capable of dealing, each team member focuses down an individual target, so as to cap the camp quicker. As to which tactic is used, this would depend on each particular situation, and on the preferences of the team.

As with any group build, please feel free to leave feedback so the build can continue to evolve. We have not completed a lot of these builds yet (this is only the second group build), so there should be lots of room to improve. As always, we will make every effort to help people to level or gear their character, as needed. And, of course, sticking exactly to these builds is not an absolute requirement--some builds can have quite the financial barrier to them, so please feel free to use a more cheaply obtainable substitute (please note: alternative suggestions will be added at a later time). Finally, there are always opportunities for those who do not have a character that belongs to the classes listed in this build to participate in the havocy fun; it never hurts to have more people helping to run havoc on other parts of the map (more people causing havoc = the enemy having to make a tough decision of where to send their zerg, or having to split up their forces to deal with the multiple threats).

Mesmer - Burst/Mobility Build

This build has a focus on staying fairly mobile, while dealing quite a bit of burst damage. You want to use the combo fields that you and the other mesmers lay down to your advantage (i.e., use leap finishers, such as Illusionary Leap or Phase Retreat, through the ethereal fields). Your main burst damage will come from the swords, while your staff is there to be used fairly defensively (and it is a beast in that regard).

Heal: Mirror (blocks projectiles and mitigates CC’s; however, heals for less)or Ether Feast (base heal is higher, plus gain additional health for each active illusion; however, does not block projectiles)

Blink

Decoy

Portal Entre

Mass Invisibility or Time Warp

Traits:

Weapons:

Sword/Sword (Berserker’s) Sigils: Fire/Accuracy

Staff (Berserker’s) Sigil: Generosity or Perception

Armor:

Head: Berserker’s (Rune of Air)

Shoulder: Berserker’s (Rune of Air)

Chest: Knight’s (Rune of Air)

Hand: Berserker’s (Rune of Air)

Leg: Berserker’s (Rune of Air)

Foot: Valkyrie (Rune of Air)

Accessories:

Amulet: Berserker’s

Rings: Cavalier’s

Accessories: Berserker’s

Backpack: Cavalier’s

Nourishment:

Anything that adds to Precision and/or Critical Damage.

Mesmer – Retaliation/Tank Build

The idea with this build is basically to stay alive while your opponent drops their own health through attacking you. This is done by keeping retaliation, regeneration, protection, and chaos armor up as much as possible, and also by effectively mitigating conditions through minus condition duration (from runes and nourishment). Again, as above, you will want to use the ethereal combo fields to your advantage (including Time Warp). Your focus helps greatly at mitigating damage from projectiles; don’t be afraid to throw down a Temperal Curtain between you and the target that is dealing projectile damage. Never shatter while your Phantasmal Warden is still alive--your enemy will get double the retaliation each time you are struck (once for hitting you, once because it counts as a hit on the Warden, who also has retaliation).

“Don’t go too far, and stay in sight!” yelled Zipp, she was always worried about Pocket’s tendency to find trouble. “Logically that means I can’t even go to my room as that would only satisfy one of those two requirements” replied Pocket, he had always insisted that trouble found him. Either way, mother and son had never found themselves so far from home before, Metrica was just a memory, Ebonhawke was their home now. “Well, you can go to your room if you want to” said Zipp cautiously, she knew he was up to something. Pocket ran up the stairs and into his new room, he had yet to unpack all his things, he jumped onto his bed and lay facing the ceiling peering into his Infinity Ball. It reminded him of his friends back in the College, they had worked on creating the Ball in their final year and even though everyone claimed it was a failed project Pocket clung onto hope that one day he could get it to work, get it to predict the future. He dozed off with the Ball gripped tightly in his hands, thinking about his new home and wondering when his dad would be back home.

Panttz was a Tyrian Marshall in the Knights Templar, a legendary guild renowned throughout Tyria. His loyalty and long service had been rewarded with position as Steward of Ebonhawke but it had meant leaving his wife and son. They had been apart for the last three years but now they were together again and he could bury the guilt he had always felt in choosing the fight over his family.

“I’m home!” Pocket’s eyes opened in an instant and he shot down the stairs to see his dad. He had spent the first two weeks of his new life in Ebonhawke listening intently as his father recounted epic battles against the Ascalonian ghosts in the north. “Can we go to the Brand today?!” he asked excitedly, still only halfway down the stairs. He was under strict orders to stay within the city and had pleaded many times with his father to take him on his trips to Warrior’s Crown where Panttz would mediate between the Charr and Humans. “Not today son, it’s still too dangerous”. Pocket could never understand how anything could be dangerous while his dad was around, he was one of the most decorated soldiers in Tyria and he had all of Ebonhawke at his command. After dinner a disappointed Pocket went back to his room and fell asleep with the Infinity Ball still firmly in his grasp.

That night he didn't sleep well at all, despite it being the middle of winter he felt stifled in his bed as he fell in and out of sleep. He dreamt of far off places, his mum and dad, of his friends back in Metrica and of the the ghosts in the North. His dream would suddenly transform in and out of a nightmare twisted with happiness and pain as he tossed and turned in his bed. He glimpsed a warrior adorned in spectacular Asuran armour and a flashing blade and that was when he saw it, violet shards of glowing rock and fire, the Crystal Dragon.

Pocket kept the dream to himself and the next morning scaled the city walls to peer into the distant purple haze of the Brand. He was fascinated by the story of the Crystal Dragon who had left the searing mark on the land. Every now and then there would be a commotion as soldiers filtered into the haze, followed by screaming, shouting and cries of pain. Sometimes none would return, on days like these Pocket’s sense of wonder would be replaced by fear as he lay well hidden behind the safety of the high, thick and seemingly unbreakable walls. Maybe his dad was right, it was too dangerous. As the noise died down Pocket again peered over the edge of the wall and tried to focus hard into the fog, eager to see what could be capable of instilling so much fear in so many.

There was movement, someone or something was still alive down there. He pulled himself onto the edge of the wall to try and get a better look. He fixed his gaze on what was now the silhouette of a soldier crawling out of the fog, he kept coming and soon the pale grey outline was replaced by a bloodied and battered body. The soldier was trembling and as pain shot through his body he lifted his head and their eyes met. Before Pocket could duck behind the wall the soldier let out a long anguished cry for help, he was crawling faster now towards the bottom of the wall where Pocket was perched.

Pocket closed his eyes to think, what could he possibly do? Nothing came to him, usually his brain would be whizzing full of solutions and answers but not now. He opened his eyes again in resignation and that was when he saw it, a hulking shadow was approaching the soldier from behind. And though the soldier never turned to look he knew it was coming too, he let out another cry and pointed to something. Pocket followed the tip of the soldier’s finger across to where he was pointing and he saw it, a rifle! Now his brain was buzzing again and he knew exactly what to do. He ran across the wall to the stairs, jumping down them four or five steps at a time, turned left and then stopped. He was at the Hawkgates. He heard his father's voice “Promise me you will never go outside the city alone, promise me son”, before he could hear his reply there came another cry from the now limping soldier. Pocket ran through the gates and broke into a sprint towards the rifle, flipping over rocks and skidding around the larger boulders, he was going to make it! He closed on the rifle and without stopping scooped it into his arms. He looked up to find his bearings and the soldier but what he found chilled him. The beast was standing over a motionless body and Pocket could now see it in all its hellish glory. It was a deep purple, the kind you would associate with extreme bruising, and it had a thick crystal like skin with piercing violet eyes. They stared deep into Pocket’s and froze him. Locked in place he was helpless as the beast closed on him, taking each step methodically before breaking into a menacing run straight towards him. Pocket looked down at the rifle, he had used one before but he had never shot a moving target, let alone a living one. He tried to move his legs but they wouldn't listen, “Come on!” he shouted at them repeatedly. As the beast came closer Pocket’s shouts turned into pleading and then begging, but it was no use, he would have to fight.

He set the rifle butt in his chest just like his father had shown him, one hand under the barrel, the other clasped over the trigger. The beast was now roaring. He popped his chin out over the top of the butt and rested it it down behind the sights. The ground was now shaking as the beast was just meters away. He took a couple of deep breaths and brought his finger over the trigger. CRACK!

He had missed and was thrown to the floor face first. He brought himself to his knees in a panic and waved away the dust that had been kicked up in this mysterious encounter, he wasn’t hurt. As the dust cleared it became clear what had happened and it filled him with relief and dread, it was his father Panttz! He had knocked Pocket to the side and was now grappling with the beast. Pocket was in awe of his father, he had never seen him in battle before. “Run! Now and fast back to the walls!” he shouted. Pocket detected fear in his father's voice and it stung him. “I can hit him dad, I won’t miss I promise” pleaded Pocket. “You promised me you wouldn’t leave the city” cried Panttz, that stung even more. Pocket ignored the pain, he knew he was a good shot, he took up his firing stance again and aimed for the beast’s chest. Panttz saw this out of the corner of his eye and immediately turned his back on the beast to confront his son “No! It will reflect, please don’t...”

Pocket’s hands dropped the rifle to the floor, but it wasn’t at his father’s instruction, the beast had taken advantage of the distraction and sent a thundering blow to the back of Panttz’ head. He rolled over and managed to dodge the first attack, and the second. The beast charged his energy and sent a pulse through his arms point blank into Panttz. He wouldn’t dodge this third attack, the energy ball was too large, too close and it sent Panttz’s head crashing backwards into the ground where it now lay motionless. Pocket fell to his knees and as his eyes welled up he heard the firing of what sounded like one thousand rifles. He scurried over to where his father lay and buried his face into his father’s helm. “Pocket, you must find him, you must find Damarus”.

Near the end of the last of the Guild Wars, a man named Saul D’Alessio had taken to robbing merchants traveling to Shaemoor to pay off his gambling debt. He was notorious for drinking and gambling at the local betting house, the Lucky Horseshoe. One of Saul’s victims was able to identify him and had him captured and tried for his crimes. Upon being found guilty, his punishment was exile from the kingdom of Kryta. He was taken far out into the jungle and left for dead.

For the next couple of days, Saul survived on what he could find in the forest. On the fourth day of his exile, he came across what seemed to be a hallucination - a massive city with buildings and towers reaching far into the sky, and architecture unlike anything ever seen. As he walked through the city, he found the creatures that lived there. They were tall and thin, with skin of gold and voices like the most beautiful music he had ever heard. Saul dedicated himself to his new gods, and they healed his afflictions completely, granting him wisdom and understanding for his devotion. Saul called his new gods the "Unseen Ones".

Saul traveled back to his former home, only to find that it was under attack by the Charr. As the searing tore apart Ascalon in the East, the Charr marched over the Shiverpeaks into Kryta. The Krytans were easy prey, disorganized and unprepared for the Charr invasion. The King had fled, and the Lionguard were not strong enough to hold against the invasion. Saul stood up and inspired those who remained in Kryta, telling stories of the gods who saved him from death and offering help from the powerful beings. He traveled around Kryta, telling stories about his exile and the beings who saved him. Having nothing else to look to, many started to follow Saul and believed the things that he said. Those who believed and devoted themselves to Saul were given white robes embroidered with gold thread. These people were the beginning of the White Mantle.

Just as the Charr were about to take Kryta, Saul and the White Mantle forces set out on a suicide mission to assassinate the Charr leaders in their camps at night. The plan was a success, though they were detected and the rest of the Charr forces in the camps surrounded them. Saul stopped and prayed to his gods. Suddenly, three of the Unseen gods appeared and wiped out the entire Charr army with their powerful magic. Unfortunately, the gods had other plans for the White Mantle. After killing the Charr army they turned on the soldiers, and the White Mantle were nearly wiped out. They spared the three men who were the most devoted to the gods - their names were Dorian, Hablion and Thommis. During the fight the gods gave Saul the ability to use their most powerful magic, but they could not allow him to return home with such power. They took Saul and disappeared back into the jungle.

The survivors returned to Kryta, and Dorian took leadership of the White Mantle, not telling the citizens about the slaughter of their soldiers or that Saul had been taken away by the gods they worshipped. They continued to rule over the Krytan nation for the next few years. Their leadership was not without fault, however. They insisted that all Krytan residents conform to their religion and culture, and those who did not were denied basic comforts. The Ascalonian refugees who had settled north of Lion's Arch suffered the most. Because of these injustices, a new group of Krytan Royalist rebels started to take form. This group was called the Shining Blade, and their actions led to a civil war in Kryta.

Site Activity FeedThe single best way to see what is new on the site day to day (includes forum posts, events, image uploads, new comments to anything). It is pretty great, and even allows you to comment within the page, so you don't have to navigate around!

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Resource PagesA list of the best links on the internet for all things Guild Wars 2. Broken out by category; everything from sPvP builds, guild mission guides, and maps are listed here. Recently added are new pages for the dragon timers for SBI (also allows you to update the timers from the page), and embedded ArenaNet's SoundCloud files.

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Image GalleryPublic image galleries that anyone registered on the site can upload images to. We welcome as many posts that folks want, space is no issue for us. when on the page, you can find a list of archived images that will take you to google drive (saves space for older images that are not viewed as much).

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KT TwitchTV SteamsFind video streams along with the twitch chat embedded right into the page! You could watch 3 streams at once! Includes our official KT stream, members and allies. If you are interested in streaming for KT, just let myself or Marcus Dairy know; we would love it.

Can be reached by the TwitchTV icon on the right of the homepage, or under the media dropdown in the top navigation bar or

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I NeedThis page let's KT members (sorry public peoples!) mark what dungeons and fractal levels they need in a Google doc, which is then embedded into the page for easy viewing. Note it can take a couple minutes to refresh on the page once it is updated in the Google doc.

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CalendarRecently renamed from EventsA place to see KT's weekly events, sign up for such events, and make comments about them. We also update them to include other notable events we get word of (e.g., Stormbluff Isle WvW training). Side note: the homepage also includes a nice weekly view of the calendar for an easy look of what is coming up.

Can be reached in the top navigation (full page) or on the homepage (weekly view)or

KT Youtube ChannelNot a link directly on our site, it is where we store some awesome KT videos! As of today even, a new KT WvW video has showed up with a keep siege led by Mr. Grundlebad. Live twitch streaming, we would love anyone interested in uploading to our channel to do so.

Can be reached by the YouTube icon on the left of the homepage, or the media link in the top navigation or

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Item LinkingYou can link items on posts, pages and comments to provide a hover over (same hover folks would see in game) by using the [u rl=urlfromgurudb]Item Name[/url]. Example is linking the Bolt, which is a legendary weapon.

Updates to the build, here is an overview of each update that can be found below:

RangerChanged elite back to rampage as one, as the Entangle elite has such a short range, much less effective to use when spiking, or general play that does not involve enemies inside the spike group.

Keeping skills the same, the reduced attack speed on quickness hurts us a little bit, but we will deal. Quickening zepher also breaks stun now, so with the default utility skills I’ve put in (i know some folks change 1 or 2 of them), there is two stun breaks. No reason to not escape now! :D

In the Marksmanship trait line, I’ve ensured piercing arrows are in there. Before I was using the trait to regain opening attack - piercing arrows does so much more in large group fights. It also ensures that enemies running in front of your target do not stop the spike, which is hugely important.

I’ve changed the first major trait in beastmaster to be Speed Training - more effective than the stats of might (we like our pets auto skills).

GuardianUpdates to the guardian clean up their trait use to make their utility skills a bit more active (20% reduced cooldown) as well as some trait changes to allow them to do more damage and compliment the team a bit more.

Mostly though, the guardian was in a good place for support, but also able to get in the fight and do solid aoe damage.

Again, the guardian does not have much main rotation damage to follow with the rangers, but instead does constant damage to nearby enemies and supports when possible. Should be on the called target at any given time as well.

WarriorOverall, a much more improved version of the Warrior build. Possibly still some areas to improve upon, but some skill and trait changes allow this warrior to participate in the battle much more, while still offering powerful support. He now also has a primary skill that can be used in the ranger rotation more regularly, and with more ease.

The warrior will use a rifle instead of longbow. This will allow the warrior to use rapid fire on the main skill rotation, followed up by the massive rifle adrenaline shot if they have it. They will still use mace/shield for close combat.

The utility and elite skills are changing to give an aoe fear which is so useful on warriors, keep the crit banner, and give an elite that provides a bit more adrenaline charge so the warrior can keep their adrenaline up. I am continuing to keep a banner in the list, and i urge others to try and substitue the elite for the elite banner (since we have the trait for it in the build). With the change to the banners, Banner of Discipline is now providing 8% crit chance and 15% crit damage to ALL allies in the area. That is a nice big bonus. They roughly doubled the stats of each banner in last patch.

A few traits have changed to clean up the changes to weapon, skills and such. The warrior will now move 10% faster with its melee weapon out, which should help movement when retreating / trying to catch up to someone.

KT will begin playing a coordinated team build on our scheduled WvW nights, Thursday and Saturday.

We will aim to change builds up every month, giving some variation but also a good amount of time for folks to learn new characters, level and gear them, and in general just practice at perfecting the skill as a team!

The build listed below is the one we will use for April (and of course a little in March). While there is only 3 classes apart of this build, we will change it up next month. Those who want to participate can choose to do so, this is in no way mandatory. Also, while we give suggestions for runes and sigils for armor pieces, we do understand that some already have worked very hard toward a specific items, we understand.

But this is a time to play a coordinated build, and we will enforce how we play together, and the various utility skills and traits that folks are using.

Without further adieu, the April Build...

Note: You will notice there is a few open points to clear up, let's take those on mumble and then edit this later.

Ranger Spike

Ranger DPS x3

OverviewA longbow ranger that coordinates its rapid fire strike with other rangers to create an immense amount of damage over 5 seconds. With some of their skills to increase the damage they will do, as well as ally buffs, this spike should consistently hit every 10 seconds with solid pressure in between.

Skill RotationWhen a spike is called in countdown, prepare to use this rotation:Virtue of Justice > Empower > (rotate weapon sets) > Chains of Light

In between called spikes:Auto Attacks and various skills not in the main rotation that are needed. Focus on keeping allies alive.

Warrior Support x 1

OverviewA support warrior that provides large amounts of damage buffs and a good amount of damage himself, but is able to be a more sturdy character on the battlefield with a number of stuns should the enemy come into close range.

Skill RotationWhen a spike is called in countdown, prepare to use this rotation:Volley > Kill Shot (when avaliable)

In between called spikes:Various skills not apart of the main rotation. Switch to mace and shield for stunning enemies closing in on your team, especially thieves. A good lead into a spike for a target close in the team.

We are going to have a busy late February and early March of giving away (and for some lucky people, winning) some prizes!! KT are pleased to announce we will be running three contests that include gem and gold rewards.

Jumping Puzzle RaceEveryone's favorite activity! We will be hosting a contest that will start everyone at the beginning of a jumping puzzle, and let them all race to the finish. I will announce which jumping puzzle we plan to run at the time of the meeting, so that very little preparation work can be done (although I would recommend taking yourself through a JP refresher!).

Please Note: Foul play is encouraged! :)hint: a number of folks hate it when you give them swiftness mid jump

Signups on the site before hand. I will make a bracket based on the number of people that signed up, and we will all group in heart of the mists and find an empty server to jump in.

Each round between two players will be a 'best of 3' session. You will be allowed to switch professions between any of the single engagements with your bracket partner. We will set a boundary limit on the map in which you must fight, due to the nature of some character being able to run and sustain permanently.

Screenshot ContestLast but not least, we are offering a more relaxed contest (a break in between all the jumping and dueling) that revolves around taking screenshots.

Theme - A Complete Setting. The submitted screenshots will be judged based on this theme. Whatever A Complete Setting means for you, find it - picture it - submit it.

Have two weeks to submit screenshots here, limit to 1 entries per person. Feel free to provide any small blurb (let's keep it less than 20 words) with the screenshot to highlight why the picture fits the term.

Throughout the course of the storyline in Guild Wars, there are a band of heroes who are constantly fighting at your side. They are the only 5 characters who travel with you across all expansions of the Guild Wars series, though they aren’t always by your side. This part of Pondering Tyria will highlight their backstories leading up to the beginning of the Guild Wars storyline.

Devona

The unofficial leader of the heroes’ band was a tough little warrior named Devona. She was a fierce warrior who strived to be as honorable as her father, Mordakai. Mordakai was a soldier who was one of the leaders of the guild Ascalon’s Chosen (this is the same guild that Adelbern and Rurik were members of). He died during the 2 day Battle of Khylo (where the sPvP map gets its name!) when Devona was only 5 years old. 20 years later, Devona fights as a captain in Ascalon’s Army to uphold the values that her father fought for. She even wields a hammer, just like her father. When Rurik was exiled by his father after the Searing, Devona followed him through the Shiverpeaks to Kryta.

Favorite quotes: “If you don’t have a plan, at least carry a big hammer.”“Don’t fight for victory. Fight for honor, and victory will come on its own.”

Aidan

Aidan was the oldest and wisest member of the heroes of Ascalon. His mother died in childbirth giving birth to Aidan while traveling in a wagon train from Kryta to Ascalon in 1038 AE. Aidan’s father was a handyman, and a very good hunter. As soon as Aidan could hold a bow, he could hunt. When Aidan was still a young boy, he and his father struck off into the wilderness to find a new home for themselves, building a house using only their surroundings and limited tools. It wasn’t long before a clan of invading Charr found their new home. Aidan, in fear, hid and watched his father die at the hands of the Charr warriors. For the next few years, he ferociously and mercilessly hunted and killed countless Charr before understanding the distinction between revenge and obsession. Aidan never used his wisdom to influence the decisions of the group, but often took the role of a fatherly figure to offer proper guidance to his younger counterparts.

Mhenlo was born to a priestess of Balthazar and a priest of Dwayna at Serenity Temple. (Sound familiar? There’s a skill point there today, located in Blazeridge Steppes!) Mhenlo grew up to be a follower of both Dwayna (the Goddess of Life and Air) and Balthazar (the God of War and Fire). Having two paths to follow made it difficult for him to focus on one task at a time. His parents sent him to Shing Jea Monastery in Cantha during his youth to study under Master Togo, and he was the last Tyrian student at the school before it was shut off to foreigners. He returned to Tyria to become a Monk at Ashford Alley.

Favorite quotes:“Light guides me, but darkness taught me to fight!”“At the heart of the storm, there is silence. At the heart of battle, there is peace.”

Cynn

Cynn was born in Surmia, a city to the north of the Great Northern Wall, to a family of nobility. She was orphaned in the searing when one of the burning crystals from the Searing landed directly on her family’s home. She was trapped in the rubble of the house for a couple of days before the invading Charr discovered her. Intending to make a meal of her, they started to dig her out. Suddenly, the warband was engulfed in flames and Cynn learned the true power of the elements. Much of her dialogue throughout the campaign reveals that she is deeply smitten with Mhenlo.

Favorite Quotes:“Go ahead. Run around. Just makes the flames burn hotter.”“Mhenlo is so sweet, isn’t he? Makes me think he’s covering for something. I keep remembering a time in Kaineng when we ran into his old ‘acquaintances’. TWIN acquaintances. Just thinking about that makes me want to burn something.”

Eve

The last of the heroes to join the group was Eve. Eve never knew where she came from or who her family was. She was found in an alley pickpocketing a sleeping traveler. Luckily for her, she was found by a kind matron who took her to the Holy Dwayna Academy for Wayward and Incorrigible Girls, where she excelled in her studies and was a bit of a bookworm. She discovered hidden books in the crypts of the library, teaching her the ways of necromancy. Her tendency toward the dark magic made her an outcast at the school. She was thrown back out onto the streets after biting off and swallowing the ear of a girl who was teasing her. The other heroes came across Eve in a graveyard while running from a Charr warband. Eve wondered if an army of undead would help save her and the others, and raised a small army of minions that made quick work of the advancing Charr. Even though she traveled and fought alongside the other heroes, she always had a tendency toward being on her own. It wasn’t difficult to ward people away; she carried around a human skull named Adam that she would have conversations with.

Favorite quotes:“Do you smell that? A city ripe with the lovely aroma of death.”“I wonder how long someone could live after being submerged up to the neck in lava…”“It’s not too late, Adam. Don’t talk like that. Not everyone’s going to die. Shh, you wouldn’t want them to… oh, hello there. What were you saying?”

We'll pick the story back up next time, so keep checking back! See you in Tyria!

While a couple of us work to maintain these pages, there is a massive amount of fansites, tips and general info that can be placed in these. Please feel free to provide ideas for future pages and updates to existing pages.

This is also a great time to point out our SBI Alliance page that includes the SBI calendar and embedded IRC chat. Please use this resource!

Peace reigned for the next hundred years or so, until the Mouth of Abaddon erupted and the five Bloodstones were scattered across Tyria. Knowing that the stones were out there, the humans began to fight amongst themselves in search of the magical stones. Thus began the Guild Wars. The humans made their home in Ascalon, just south of the Charr territory, and built the Great Northern Wall over hundreds of years to keep the Charr out of their land.

Peace again came to Ascalon around the year 1070, and a man named Adelbern emerged from the battlefields as such a highly regarded warrior that the public demanded that he be crowned King in front of the next successor, Duke Barradin. Despite the Great Northern Wall, the Charr had begun to plan an attack on the human city of Ascalon with help from their new gods, the Titans. The Titans gave the Charr the Cauldron of Cataclysm, which, when used, rained down burning crystals across the lands, killing everything in Ascalon. This event is known as the Searing. After the Searing, the other human nations of Kryta and Orr decided that they had to work together to keep the Charr from taking over the entire continent, and the Guild Wars were over. Rather than send reinforcements, the other kingdoms built up their defenses to fight off Charr attacks on their own kingdoms. Less than a year after the Searing, the Charr reached Orr. Rather than turning their land over to the Charr, the Orrians buried their kingdom at the bottom of the ocean with a huge explosion. Despite the Krytan King fleeing and a massive Charr army pushing down on them, Kryta was the only human nation to survive the Charr invasions. Meanwhile, in Ascalon, an Ambassador from Kryta named Zain came to offer help. Adelbern still had a distrust for them from the Guild Wars and refused their offer. Rurik, however, saw Zain as a valuable ally, and began to meet secretly with him. During these meetings, a Charr force made it through a breach in the wall, nearly arriving at Fort Ranik before being pushed back through the Wall, taking human prisoners as they fled. Rurik followed with a small force to recover the prisoners and found himself in the destroyed city of Drascir, where he discovered the mouthpiece from Stormcaller in the old Academy. The horn Stormcaller was prophesied to save Ascalon from defeat when blown. Rurik made his way to Rin, where the horn could be blown. Despite the Charr forces remaining in Rin, Rurik fought through and blew Stormcaller, causing a sudden rainstorm across Ascalon that put out all of the fires and flaming effigies left from the Searing.

At this point, King Adelbern and Prince Rurik could not agree on a course of action for the people of Ascalon. Adelbern was convinced that they could continue to fight off the Charr and keep the kingdom of Ascalon. Rurik disagreed and accepted Zain’s help. Because of this, Adelbern exiled his son, and they would never see each other again.

Rurik took his force of soldiers, the Vanguard, and the refugees who decided to follow him over the Shiverpeaks to the west. The humans soon encountered the Deldrimor Dwarves, who were at war in the mountains with the Stone Summit, a group who also hated humans. For the humans to safely pass through the Shiverpeaks, they had to help the dwarves take back a fortification called the Frost Gate. The humans and the dwarves together were able to take back the Frost Gate, but at the last moment of battle the Stone Summit leader, Dagnar Stonepate pulled Rurik back into an avalanche. Prince Rurik had died, but the Vanguard were able to safely lead the human refugees into Kryta.

Tyria is the name that refers to both the world itself and the continent on which we currently play. The oldest records in Tyria go back to 10,000 BE (Before Exodus). This is around the time that the Elder Dragons almost killed out the Giganticus Lupicus. This record is also the last known awakening of the Elder Dragons. The following 8,000 years don’t have many records, though we do know that the Dwarves, Jotun, Seers and Mursaat remained in Tyria. It is said that the Forgotten (a serpant race with 4 arms) were also already in Tyria at this point, though most think they came with the Six Gods. Sometime after the Elder Dragons fell, the Charr began to conquer the lands to their east, traveling over the Shiverpeaks and ending up in northern Ascalon.

The Six Gods came to Tyria around 1,000 BE. Above, L-R: Dwayna, Melandru, Lyssa, Balthazar and Grenth. Abaddon is not pictured, you’ll find out why later. The Forgotten were placed in charge of taking care of the Gods’ work in Tyria. Around 200 BE, the humans arrived in Tyria and Elona and continued to spread, pushing the Forgotten south to the Crystal Desert where they were eventually re-tasked to protect the prophetic dragon Glint. In 1 BE, one of the Gods, Abaddon, decided to give the races of Tyria the gift of powerful magic to make their lives easier, using the Seers’ Bloodstone. The gift backfired, causing wars to break out between the races, resulting in mass destruction and countless deaths. The human king at the time, King Doric, traveled to Arah, where it is known at least 3 of the Gods lived, and begged them to take the gift back.

The Gods agreed, dividing both the Bloodstone into 5 large pieces, and the magic into their four schools – Aggression, Denial, Destruction and Preservation. They placed the four schools of magic into four of the bloodstone pieces. The last piece was sealed with King Doric’s blood, and was made to be a keystone, required to re-unite the bloodstones. All 5 stones were then thrown into the largest volcano in the Ring of Fire, Abaddon’s Mouth. The decision by the other Gods to remove his gift made Abaddon angry, and he rebelled against their decision. He was defeated by the other Gods and trapped in the Realm of Torment, and all records of him were removed from Tyria. After sinking his Orrian temple and sending the Temple of the Six into the Realm of Torment with him, the Five Gods left the world, marking the Exodus of the Gods.

As the year is over, it can be fun to look back at the year of games for 2012. While, of course, when someone says something positive about a game, it is quickly followed by multiple negative posts. Let’s step away from the mentality for a moment, and enjoy the spoils of war that Guild Wars 2 and ArenaNet has received this past year..

Massively gives Guild Wars 2 best MMO of 2012 and ties ArenaNet with Best Studio.

“ArenaNet takes a tough stance with its community. It doesn't write off offensive names or abusive behavior as acceptable behavior on the internet. The devs listen to their fans, are very accessible, and aren't afraid to admit it when they make a mistake.”

“Guild Wars 2, at times, was a hard game to play without simply stopping and taking a moment to absorb how absolutely beautiful this world, the creatures, the characters, and the design by the art team at ArenaNet were.”

"GW2 also manages to pack in more value than pretty much any other game released this year, offering a compelling experience whether you're a diehard PvE traditionalist, hardcore competitive gamer, master strategist, or role-playing enthusiast."

"ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 will be a point of comparison for any new MMO for years to come. The studio's willingness to tweak and in some cases abolish many longstanding MMO irritations resulted in a hugely rewarding play experience."

Guild Wars 2 rounded out Time's Tech section top 10 listing of the best games of 2012

"All those events and hundreds more play out in real-time — with, as Bono would say, or without you, lending Guild Wars 2 the feel of a living world, and the sort of compulsive anywhere-you-go playability other MMOs only dream of."

"The events system, while not fully supplanting traditional questing, creates life and variability where it was lacking before."

MMORPG.com player choice awards gives Guild Wars 2 Most Innovative game. A fun fact about that is Guild Wars 2 just slightly beat Pirate 101 in this catagory, while Priates 101 slightly beat (.5% of votes) Guild Wars 2 for Game of the Year. Congrats to both games!

"In another very close race, ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 eeked our Pirate101 to take home the Most Innovative title this year. With its shunning of standard MMO conventions, ArenaNet managed to build the most critically acclaimed MMORPG in years. Congrats, ANet and NCsoft!"

It has been a long time since the last WvW blog. So I figured for this one I would talk about my favorite topic. I want to discuss why everyone should play in a reliable manner when in WvW with the guild.

What does ‘playing in a reliable manner’ mean?Playing in a reliable manner literally means playing in a way that others can rely on you. Being able to rely on your allies will make it much easier to comfortably complete tasks. Following the orders of a commander is one of the biggest factors to playing in a reliable manner. When playing reliably, you can start simulating shared experience with your allies.

A good example of shared experience is when a group of friends plays together very often. They become familiar with each other's skill level, style affinity, and even how they communicate. At some point they, not always consciously, develop their skills to work with the others in a much more effective way than how they would have played with someone they didn't know.

This allows this group of friends to do is make more informed decisions based on their shared experience. For example - knowing I can go in melee range with my warrior buddy next to me, knowing he stays in the fight and triggers area of effect heals. When playing with a random team member, I might do ranged attacks because I am not trusting of their ability to support me, which may make my damage per second suffer. Thus, it is more efficient to play with my friend who is reliable.

To bring this full circle... I will point out that the Knights Templar plays with a group on our scheduled WvW nights (counting the allied guilds that join us). We have commanders that leads this group, and sometimes a number of additional pugs (non-PuG pugs :D ). The more each member can play in a reliable manner, the better we can simulate shared experience, especially for the commander.

Let’s break it downSo, let’s break down the last sentence to get to the meat of this. As pointed out above, the biggest way to play in a reliable manner is to listen to the orders of a commander.

If the commander knows that when they make and order all members will execute it as given in a time effective manner, they can make much better judgement calls!

Example - I am a commander calling my squad of 12 people to go from the spawn of Jade Quarry Borderlands (our spawn) to a northern supply camp. We are going to take it. We run all the way there, and take it. Yay. We then decide to take a nearby tower. When we get near the tower, I call to kill the guards, throw down a few battering rams, and break the door down. This is an incredibly straightforward task. Let's say it takes us too long to execute this task, and we die.

Why did it take us a long time - placing 2 rams and hitting F is a very quick thing to do. Like 15 seconds max to build these up. A number of things went wrong. When I called to pick up supply from the camp, 2 people didn't (excluding the excuse of no supply) This is bad. On the way to the tower, and enemy thief ran by and 2 people chased him an ungodly distance. This is bad. When we got to the tower and went to place rams, a couple people did not immediately contribute supply. This is bad.

In all these ‘bad’ scenarios, I’m sure those people didn't mean to consume the groups time by their actions, and in most cases I assume they mean well - thinking they are benefiting the group. This is wrong :( There is no way allies can fully trust these players to execute their given task in the future, thus making those that do play reliable less likely to execute as they know it could be worthless. This builds shared experience, in a very negative way.

How does this help the commander?The commander can have expectations and can execute on those. If he/she knows that the members will build rams quickly, he may be more likely to attack a tower. He can then ask his allies where enemy locations are, and if they are far enough way that they won’t be able to respond in time, then he will know for certain they can take an objective.

He does not have to guess about the folks that are following him around. There is no uncertainty.

How does this help other players?You are always setting an example - no matter how much you think people don't notice you. If you are attacking the wrong target, or running off in an opposite direction - others will notice and begin to learn that it is acceptable.

Even if you look at the most basic level of play, people sometimes just aimlessly follow others.

As soon as a group starts playing together in predictable and reliable ways, they can then learn and build off of each other. If I notice specifically that a person we play with a lot is really good at throwing out area of effect heals, then instinctively I will go near him when I'm low on health. I don’t need to discuss it with him or the team - it is something we learned together during our shared experience. If that player is often times running away mid fight when the commander called to stay - chasing away a thief that the commander called to not chase - I learn to be unsure that they are there for heals, and ultimately let myself die as I assume there is no support.

All of this was just a ton of text to get to the point of stating - the more reliably you can play (in this case, following a plan with as little diversion as possible), you will make it easier for other players, and the commander, to learn how to play with you.

To summarize my thoughts completely, don't be a wildcard. It only leads to bad things.

We have some member promotions that are LONG overdue, so below I will list out the folks who are currently at a squire standing and will be marked up to member on the forums and in game.

It’s a very good sign to those players that their continued commitment to the community is much appreciated. An extra bonus, you get to use the guild upgrades in game (so make sure you take advantage of them, we have lots stocked up).

Harlotquinn

Gladriel

Firehawk

Main

Grundle

Sanuye

Supraman

Anatasia

Reneeij

Vorador

If I have missed anyone that feels they should be a member, please let me know. It is probably not intentional!

The Knights Templar will be hosting an outfit/costume contest on 10/31/2012. Some of you might recognize that date as Halloween! Come join the fun, show off your character looks, and hopefully win some gems!

How will the contest work? Basically, a couple of us here at Knights Templar will judge all participants who choose to enter one of two categories; Spooky and Funny. Any form of armor, weapons and costume along with any of the vast assortment of dye can be used to show off a phenomenal looking character. Get creative!

Details:Where: Queensdale - Just outside of divinities reach in the nicely decorated area.When: 10PM Eastern / 9PM Central / 7PM PacificHow long will it last?: We will be judging folks for as long as there are folks to judge. Once the last participant in a category has been looked at, we will stop the contest and decide a winner.Who can enter?: Anyone can enter, except for the judges. The same person can't win each catagory.Who can I contact for question?: Glamarus in game, or Damarus on knights-templar.com

Category #1 - SpookyBring the spookiest outfit you can find. The reward for this category will be 2000 gems.

Category #2 - FunnyWear any outfit that you would like, but it should make us smile! We will also accept any name you would like to give you appearance, to help demonstrate the look and thought. The reward for this category will be 2000 gems.

As you can see, the reward will be a pile of gems for two lucky winners! We will be messaging the key to the winners on the Knights Templar website. They will be able to enter that key into their account to claim their gems.

Good Luck!

Note: Sites that may help in designing a character can be found on the resource page under Character Design.

As soon as someone, anyone, enters down state, the battle shifts to a new phase in the fight. What some players do not understand is that Downed State is one of the most important mechanics in Guild Wars 2. Stomping and Reviving is by far more important than bursting someone down. Find out when it's best to stomp or revive! Follow the link to take a look at the different scenarios you can face...

Siege weapons are an essential part of attacking AND defending objectives in WvW. This is something that is forgotten many times for many players when roaming out in WvW. I will go through the basics of siege weapons in this write up, and delve a bit deeper into some examples of great siege placement.

Siege weapons are built from blueprints. There is a different blueprint for each weapon. Blueprints can be obtained from vendors at the initial spawn base when zoning into a WvW map, objectives upgraded with a vendor, and randomly from killed npc drops.

It is incredibly important to understand how much supply a siege weapon takes to build so a group can have the needed number of people to build it ready. Quickly building up siege weapons is important in the middle of a battle. Enemies doing damage to an in-progress siege weapon will increase the amount of supply needed to build a weapon - turning a 'would-be-quick' build into a long build that requires multiple people to run back and forth.

PlacementBelow are some examples of some solid siege placement - there are many more than what is below. As always, see more detailed information in the guide, and feel free to propose new ones, there are a ton of possibilities.

This is a fun siege placement because you can fire a treb safely on your side of the map into the enemies base; great for slowly knocking down a wall for a team on standby to rush in.

After breaching the first layer of walls, use that high ground to your advantage to hammer down on the second layer. Too many groups die at the doors of the second layer because they are difficult to stage a breach with all that water their... so don't!

A simple placement, but one people seem to forget. Place the siege behind the small cliff. It really lowers the options the enemy has for approaching your goods.

As the initial surge of game release is calming down, more and more people are looking towards additional activities, one of which is World vs. World, especially as an alternate way of gaining experience to increase a characters levels.

For this blog, we will walk through the WvW map; what different objectives you can see, what different icons mean and the locations you will want to have in mind when traveling around the map.

Score Generating ObjectivesWhen coming into WvW and opening your map (default key 'M') you will see many icons that are indeed supposed to mean something to you! Let's cover the most important icons, objectives that generate score for your would. This icon means there is a supply camp at that location. Supply camps generate supply which is delivered to other objectives. This icon means there is a tower at that location. Towers are small, but sturdy, objectives that generate a minimal amount of score. This icon means there is a keep at that location. Keeps are larger and very sturdy objectives that generate a good amount of score. This icons displays the location of Stonemist Castle. There is only one castle in the game, and it is heavily fortifies and worth massive points. When an objective has sword icons, it means it has been attacked recently. Ensure you check appropriately when you see these, there might be an opportunity to defend from an assault! This icon informs you that the location is neutral to all teams. There is still NPC defense, but no other world has control over it. Go capture!

Other ObjectivesSome other objectives that do not generate score for your world, but assist in others ways...Shows the location of a single NPC that a team can capture. They make good outposts to alert you where enemies are moving (small groups love to capture these in enemy territory and give away their position)Shows the location of an NPC camp taken by a world (color of icon depends on the world). These camps will spawn NPCs that protect your team's score generating objectives.Shows the location of an NPC camp that is not taken by any world. Go take it!

MiscellaneousA few more icons to keep a look out for...When there are large orange sword icons on the map, it means some players are fighting at that location. It will not tell you if it is a large or small battle. Waypoints with the dual sword icon means they are contested, much like in PvE. Enemies attacking a keep with a waypoint, for example, could make a waypoint contested which means you are unable to teleport there.This icon displays where an orb of power is at. The pedestal will not have the orb on top if the orb is not at that location (there is a limited number of orb pedestal locations). Orbs of power give +50 stats and +5% health to the world that controls it (up to 3 of them).This icon lets you know that a commander is on the map. Commanders can have large squads of people, much larger than regular groups.

That's all we have this week folks! Leave us a comment if you have any questions about this topic. As always, view the WvW guide with updated information here.

Today we've added new Pet Location pages to our plethora of resource pages here at the KT site. You can find the locations of all pet types in the game broken up by category (e.g., Bear), sub-category (e.g., Polar Bear) and location. Please let us know of any amendments that need to be made.

A special thanks to Covenant for gathering this massive chunk of info!